


Take a Step That is New

by my_mad_fatuation



Series: Three's Company, Too [3]
Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 03:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10067849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_mad_fatuation/pseuds/my_mad_fatuation
Summary: After Finn tells Rae that it wouldn't work between them, she starts dating someone else, causing Finn to rethink his decision.





	

“What the devil is going on?” said the landlord, standing at the front window and peeking out between the slats of the blinds.

“What is it now, Stanley?” his wife replied before blowing on her nails to make her polish dry faster.

“Finn, the gay fella upstairs—”

“You can just call him Finn.”

“—just went up there with a young man!”

“You mean his boyfriend?”

“No, this was someone else,” he said. “Not that I want him up there alone with his boyfriend, either.”

“I’m sure whoever this mystery man is, he’s just a friend,” she assured him, though only she knew for certain, since she was the only one of the pair of them to know Finn’s secret.

“I know how gay men are, Helen.”

“Do you?”

“I’ve watched _Queer as Folk_ ; I know things.”

“Why on Earth did you watch that?”

“I fell asleep in front of the telly and when I woke up, it was on,” he explained. “But that’s not the point. The point is, just because Finn has a boyfriend doesn’t mean he won’t be getting up to something with the man I just saw go up there with him!”

“And what sort of things do you think they’ll be getting up to, Stanley?”

“You know, gay things.”

“What, like a Pride parade?”

“I’m going to go up there and make sure nothing’s going on,” he said.

“It’s not really any of your business, is it?”

“Fine, then I’ll go up and fix their doorbell; they’ve been complaining about that for a while now.”

He took a few minutes to gather his tools before heading out the front door and up the stairs to Finn and the girls’ flat. By the time he got up there, however, he’d forgotten about the broken doorbell and tried to ring it several times. He gave up and opened the door to let himself in.

He took a look around and noticed that the bedroom doors were both open, which was a good sign, as far as he was concerned. There was no one in the lounge, however, so he headed towards the kitchen, stopping outside the door when he heard voices.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so big,” said a man’s voice that the landlord didn’t recognize.

“It’s kind of what I’m known for,” Finn’s voice replied.

“How am I supposed to get it in my mouth?”

“Archie does it all the time.”

“Hold on a minute!” the landlord bellowed, swinging the kitchen door open and barging in with his eyes closed. “I thought I told you there was to be none of that business in my building!”

“What?” said Finn. “What are you talking about?”

The landlord opened his eyes cautiously to find Finn and his companion sitting at the table, with two large sandwiches in front of them.

“What… is that?” he asked.

“It’s my famous triple-decker grilled cheese,” Finn answered.

“Right, well… I’m just here to fix your doorbell.”

Finn eyed the older man suspiciously. “What did you think I was doing in here?”

“I thought I heard… a pot boiling over,” he said. “You know how that wrecks the surface of the stovetop.”

“I wouldn’t do such a thing, Mr. Roper.” Finn reached over to grab his friend’s hand and smiled innocently at the landlord.

“Right, then. Uh, carry on.”

He laughed a little after the landlord left in a hurry.

“So, he’s the landlord you told me about?” his friend asked, pulling his hand away.

“Yeah,” said Finn. “Sorry about that, but it’s so easy to mess with him.”

“Just don’t involve me next time.”

***

Rae rang the doorbell when she got home just to see if the landlord had fixed it yet, and it seemed that he had. Just as she was about to open the door, however, it opened for her, though she did not recognize the man standing in front of her.

“Oh, um, do I have the wrong flat?” she asked, looking around, confused.

“Whose flat do you think this is?” said the man.

“Uh, mine…?”

“Oh, are you one of Finn’s flatmates?”

“Yes…”

“You must be Rae.”

She nodded.

“His description of you really didn’t do you justice, I’ll admit.”

“His description of me?”

“Tall, dark hair, pretty,” he said.

She looked away shyly for a moment.

“He forgot to mention unbelievably sexy,” he added, looking her up and down.

“I’m sorry, but who are you, exactly?” she asked.

“I’m Dev,” he said as he reached out to shake her hand. “I’m a friend of Finn’s from school, years ago. I just moved here, though.”

“Oh, well, welcome to the area, I guess.”

“Hey, I bet you want to come inside, don’t you?” he said with a laugh, opening the door wider so she could get past him. “Why did you ring your own doorbell?”

“I was just checking to see if it was fixed.”

“Oh, yeah, your landlord came by earlier today.”

“Where’s Finn?” she said when she didn’t see him in the lounge.

“He’s in the kitchen cooking dinner,” said Dev. “Though I’m still full from lunch. He made his triple—”

“Triple-decker grilled cheese?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, that’s disgusting.”

“Kind of.” He smiled and Rae felt like she was blushing.

“Well, I’m just going to go change out of my work clothes, so…” she said, heading for her bedroom.

“Slipping into something more comfortable already?” he teased.

“You really are Finn’s friend, aren’t you?”

***

“What’s the deal with Rae?” Dev asked Finn when he went into the kitchen to check on him after Rae had closed her bedroom door.

“What do you mean?” said Finn, flipping chicken thighs in a large skillet.

“I mean, is she seeing anyone?”

“Oh.” He stopped what he was doing and looked at his friend. “Why, are you interested?”

“Maybe.”

“She’s not, as far as I know,” he said. “But I should tell you, she kind of has a thing for me.”

“You think every woman is in love with you,” said Dev.

“She told me so,” Finn added. “Well, sort of. She never really fully admitted to it, but she didn’t completely deny it either, so…”

“I think I like my odds.” Dev smirked as he backed towards the door. “Besides, if she likes you then she’ll definitely like me; everyone knows you’re just the white version of me.”

***

By the time Rae had changed out of her button-down and work skirt, into a t-shirt and jeans, Chloe was already home and in the lounge talking to Dev on the sofa. Rae felt her stomach sink a little.

It was rare for a cute guy to call her sexy, but now that he’d met Chloe – the objectively sexier one – she had no chance.

“Well, you just look good in everything, don’t you?” said Dev, standing up.

It took Rae a minute to realize he was talking to her. “Oh, uh, thanks.”

Finn soon came in to tell them dinner was ready. “Lemon Dijon chicken with asparagus and potatoes,” he said as they all sat down at the kitchen table.

“Oh, my favourite!” said Chloe.

“Since when can you cook like this?” asked Dev. “Back in our school days, you couldn’t even boil an egg.”

“I’ve learned a lot in the past few years,” said Finn.

“Yeah, he cooks for us all the time,” said Rae.

“Does he?” Dev sounded surprised. “And what sort of compensation does he get?”

“We don’t kick his butt to the curb when he misses a rent payment,” Chloe explained.

“Hey, that’s only happened twice,” Finn said defensively.

“You’ve only been here six months,” said Rae.

“Fine, I’m not the most financially reliable guy, but at least I can cook, which is more than I can say for the two of you.”

“I see I’ve hit a sore subject,” said Dev, though he seemed amused.

***

Rae was starting to resent that Dev was in their flat for the evening. Not that there was anything wrong with him, but she just wanted to go to bed early and read, which she thought would be rude while they had company. Then again, he was Finn’s guest, so it was Finn’s job to entertain him, not hers.

“Well, I’m heading in for the night,” she announced as she got up from the lounge chair where she was sitting.

“Already?” said Dev, who pulled out his mobile to check the time. “It’s not even ten.”

“I’m elderly,” she replied, stretching her back briefly before heading to her room.

He got up and followed her to her door. “Wait, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay…”

“Would you like to go out some time?” he asked. “With me, obviously.”

“Really?”

He laughed like that was a stupid question. “Of course, really,” he said.

“Oh,” she said. “Yeah, okay.”

***

“You look nice,” Finn said when Rae walked out of her bedroom wearing a burgundy skater dress with opaque black tights.

“Why did you say that like you were surprised?” she asked impatiently.

“No, I mean, you always look nice, but you’re all… dressed up.”

“I have a date, if you’ll remember.”

“You’re still doing that?” he said, grimacing a little.

“He’s _your_ friend,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, which is how I know this is a bad idea,” he added. “He’s like the Indian version of me.”

“You flatter yourself.”

“I thought you didn’t want to be some guy’s Saturday night girl.”

“I didn’t want to be _your_ Saturday night girl,” she said. “Besides, it’s Friday.”

“Fine, you’re an adult; do what you want.”

“I will.”

“Fine.”

***

“I had a really good time tonight,” Dev said as he and Rae walked back towards her building. “I’d invite you ‘round to mine, but I’m currently staying in a studio flat with two other guys. It’s kind of horrible.”

“That’s okay; it is past ten, after all,” she replied jokingly. “I had a good time, too, though.”

“I’ll walk you upstairs,” he said, placing his hand on the small of her back and guiding her towards the staircase.

They stopped when the landlord’s door swung open, startling them.

“Mr. Roper, hi!” Rae said, taking a step away from Dev.

The landlord looked startled to see them there as well, with his hands full of rubbish bags. “Hello, uh, Rae,” he said. “Who’s your friend?” he added, eyeing Dev suspiciously.

“I’m Dev,” he said. “We met briefly the other day. I’m Finn’s friend.”

“Oh, right. A _special friend_ of his, are you?”

“No, nothing like that!”

“So… you and Rae, then?” asked the landlord.

“No, no, he is gay,” Rae jumped in. “But he’s not ‘special friends’ with Finn. They’re just regular friends, like he and I are just regular friends. Right?”

“Uh, right,” said Dev. “I was just going upstairs to say a friendly hello to Finn after a friendly evening with Rae. Friends all around.”

***

“I guess you should come in for a bit,” Rae said when she and Dev got up to her flat. “The landlord will probably be watching out his window to see when you leave, and you said you were going to say hello to Finn, so…”

“That’s fine with me,” he said, following her inside.

“How was your big date?” Finn asked Rae without looking up from his laptop as he sat lengthwise on the sofa.

“Not over,” said Dev.

Finn finally looked up and saw that Rae was not alone. “Oh, hey, Dev. I, uh, didn’t see you there.”

“I just came up to say a proper goodnight to Rae,” Dev explained. He gave Finn a look as if to say, “Get lost!”

“I think I’ll just be in my room for a while,” Finn added, getting up off the sofa and taking his laptop with him.

“Heh, what was that about?” Rae asked once Finn’s door had shut, confused as to why he left so suddenly.

“No idea,” said Dev. “Shall we sit, though?”

“For a minute, I suppose.” She kind of just wanted to get into her PJs and read before bed, but she followed him to sofa.

“So…” he said.

“So…” she replied.

He scooted closer and put his arm behind her.

“I had a good time tonight,” she said, hands folded in her lap.

“You already said that,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, right, well, I meant it.”

“You know, tonight doesn’t have to be over yet,” he added before leaning in to kiss her.

Shortly, Finn’s bedroom door flew open and he came barreling into the lounge. “Forgot my phone,” he said, going to pick up his phone off the table. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“That’s okay,” said Rae, trying to pretend like she hadn’t just been caught making out with Dev.

“I should probably head out, anyway,” said Dev as he stood up. “Rae, I’ll text you.”

She walked him to the door and he left.

“You’re welcome,” said Finn once his friend was gone.

“For what?” said Rae.

“For saving you just now.”

“Saving me?”

“He was trying to get some hanky-panky on the first date!”

“So? You always do that.”

“And how many second dates do I go on?”

“I don’t believe this,” she said. “You came out here just to scare him away?”

“I thought I was helping,”

“Yeah, well, I can handle things on my own. And now he’ll never go out with me again. I know what ‘I’ll text you’ means.”

“I did try to warn you about him,” he said.

***

Just as Rae was getting ready for bed, she got a text message from Dev.

 _“Sorry for leaving so soon. It was just getting a bit crowded,”_ it read.

 _“Don’t worry about it,”_ she wrote back.

_“Want to go out again tomorrow night?”_

***

“No way,” said Finn.

“Come on,” said Rae. “You owe me.”

“I’m not going to vacate my own home just so you and Dev can have some alone time!”

“Hey, we always leave whenever you have a date,” Chloe pointed out.

“Exactly,” he said. “What am I supposed to do about my date tonight, then?”

“Go back to her place?” she suggested.

“She lives with her parents.”

“How old is she?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s not fair that you should get the flat tonight,” said Rae. “You’re not the only one with a date.”

“Fine, what if we… share?” he said.

“Ew, what?”

“Share the flat, I mean. I’ll take my room; you take yours. We’ll stagger our use of the common area so that we don’t have to see each other.”

“That’s not a terrible idea,” said Chloe.

“What do you care?” said Rae. “You’re staying at Izzy and Chop’s tonight.”

“I think it’s your only option.”

She sighed heavily. “Fine.”

***

“There goes Rae with Finn’s gay friend again, up to their flat,” said the landlord.

“That’s fascinating, Stanley,” said his wife.

“That’s two nights in a row I’ve seen him go up there with her,” he added. “What are they doing up there together?”

“They’re probably just plaiting each other’s hair.”

“You think?”

***

“Can I get you something to drink?” Rae offered as Dev took a seat on the sofa. “I think we have some wine leftover from Chloe’s birthday a couple weeks ago.”

“Sure,” he said, his arms outstretched along the back of the sofa.

She went into the kitchen to get the wine and a couple of glasses, though the glasses rattled in her hands, as she was trembling. She was nervous; it had been ages since she’d been on a date like this and she was worried she’d forgotten how to be a person.

She managed to calm her nerves enough to go back out to the lounge without shaking the glasses and set them on the table to pour the wine.

He picked up a glass once it was filled and held it up to her. “Cheers,” he said.

“Cheers.”

***

“Now Finn’s going up there with another young lady friend,” said the landlord, poking his nose out the front window.

“Thank you for the narration, dear,” said his wife.

***

“Finn!” Rae said in her annoyed voice as Finn entered the flat with a young brunette woman. “You weren’t supposed to be here for another half hour!”

“Jenny’s gotta get home early,” he explained, shutting the door behind him. “She’s got an essay to write tomorrow.”

“I presume this is Jenny,” said Rae, nodding towards the brunette.

“Yes,” he said. “Jenny, this is my flatmate Rae, and my friend, Dev.”

“Nice to meet you, Dev,” said Jenny, going to shake Rae’s hand.

“I’m Rae,” she said.

Jenny looked confused, but didn’t say anything.

“Have a seat,” Finn said to her, motioning towards the empty chair. He sat down on the sofa on the opposite side of Rae from Dev. “Would you like some wine?”

“Is she even old enough to drink?” Rae scoffed.

“Of course she is,” said Finn, not amused.

“I’d love some, thanks,” said Jenny.

“Well, we might just head to my room,” said Rae, setting her glass on the table and standing up. “Leave you two alone.”

“Wait,” said Finn. “We could all watch a film or something.”

“Not really in the mood for a film,” said Dev as he patted Finn on the shoulder before standing as well.

“What, is he some kind of film snob?” said Finn once Rae and Dev had left.

Jenny came and sat next to him. “I don’t know,” she said.

“I’ll get us some glasses,” he said, slipping away from her quickly. He went to the kitchen and returned shortly with two more glasses. “What do you think they’re even doing in there?” he asked as he sat down again.

“Probably something like this,” she said with her hand on top of his leg as she kissed him.

He tried to let go of some of the tension between his shoulders as he put his arms around her. He stopped kissing her when he heard something coming from Rae’s bedroom, though. A giggle.

“Did you hear that?” he said, pulling away.

“I didn’t hear anything,” said Jenny.

“How am I supposed to concentrate if I can hear them in there?”

“I don’t know. Put on some music or something.”

“Yeah, maybe…”

He got up, but instead of turning on music, he went and knocked on Rae’s bedroom door. No answer. He knocked again. Still nothing. So he opened it, only to find Rae trying to cover herself quickly, as she and Dev were both shirtless.

“Finn!” she yelled. “What are you doing in here?”

“I… I was just, um, going to ask if you guys would mind if I put on some music out there,” Finn said, covering his eyes with his hand.

“Oh my god, I don’t care!”

“Okay. Great. Carry on.” He backed out of the room and shut the door.

“So,” Dev said once Finn was gone. “Where were we?”

Rae put her shirt back on. “I think maybe we should just slow down a bit.”

“Oh. Okay…” He was disappointed that Finn had blocked him yet again. Not cool.

***

“I don’t get why he has to come with us,” Finn complained as he and his flatmates headed out to the nearest pub.

“He’s _your_ friend,” said Chloe.

“Yeah, but Quiz Night is sort of our special thing, just the three of us,” he said.

“What about when Archie comes with us?”

“That’s different.”

“How is it different?” asked Rae.

“I dunno, it just is,” said Finn. “Dev doesn’t know our pre-quiz ritual, for instance.”

“You mean doing tequila shots?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure we can teach him.”

“I just hope you’re prepared for us to lose tonight,” he said.

“I always am.”

***

“I can’t believe we actually won,” said Chloe on her way back to the flat with the others. “You were really good,” she added, tapping Dev on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” Finn said unenthusiastically as he watched Dev and Rae walk in front of him, hand in hand. “Great.”

Dev turned to look back at them and smiled. “Thanks, guys.”

They all stopped in front of Finn and the girls’ building, which was on the way to Dev’s place.

“Tonight was fun,” he said. “I’m glad you guys invited me.”

“Technically, Rae invited you,” Finn muttered.

“Well, then, thanks,” Dev said to Rae, pulling her closer so he could kiss her. Finn rolled his eyes.

“What’s all this?” said the landlord, appearing from behind the recycling bins. “What’s he doing kissing her?”

“Oh, no, sir, that didn’t mean anything,” Dev said frantically. “You see, that’s just how I say goodbye to all my friends.” He turned to Chloe and added, “Goodnight, Chloe,” before kissing her as well.

“Finn, buddy,” he said to Finn next. “Have a good one, all right?”

Finn scrunched up his face as Dev kissed him.

“I’ll see you Saturday afternoon for football, yeah?” Dev added once the landlord had run off.

“Yeah,” Finn said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. “See you.”

***

“What the hell, man?” said Dev as he walked up to Finn with his arms open. “You nearly tripped me back there!”

“Sorry,” Finn replied insincerely. “I was just trying to get the ball.”

“We’re on the same team!”

Finn shrugged and started to walk away, but Dev put a hand on his shoulder aggressively to stop him.

“What’s going on?” Dev added. “You’ve been acting weird for the past week. Or is this just how you are now? Have you really changed that much in the past few years?”

“You think _I’ve_ changed?” said Finn, yanking his shoulder free from Dev’s grasp. “Since when do you keep dating a girl once you’ve slept with her?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Finn looked over at Rae who was standing at the sidelines. Fortunately, she was talking to Chloe and not paying attention to their little dispute.

“This is about Rae?” said Dev.

“No…”

“I’m not eighteen anymore – I actually like getting to know someone for more than a day,” he said. “And, not that it’s any of your business, but I haven’t slept with her. Yet.”

Anger surged through Finn’s veins, but he tried to remain calm.

“That might change soon, though, since my flat’s going to be empty for a few hours tonight,” Dev continued.

_Snap._

Finn gave Dev a swift shove, causing him to stumble backwards a few steps.

“What the f—”

“I swear, if you do anything—”

“Hey, hey! What’s going on here?” said Rae, who had jogged towards them when she saw the shove.

“Nothing,” said Dev. “Just guy stuff.”

“Yeah,” said Finn, still seething.

“Okay, well, just be careful, guys,” she said before heading back towards Chloe.

“You like her, don’t you?” Dev said to Finn once she was gone.

“She’s my friend,” said Finn. “I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“If you like her, just tell me and I’ll back off.” Dev put up his hands like he was trying to prove that he was unarmed.

“It’s not that I…” Finn began. “It’s just, the thought of her with you makes me…”

“Jealous?”

“I’m not jealous,” he said, looking down at the ground.

“If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck…” said Dev. “Or, in this case, a chicken.”

“I’m not chicken, either.”

“Look, if it makes it easier for you, I’ll break up with her,” he said. “You can do whatever you want. But I suggest you tell her.”

***

“Where is she?” Finn asked Chloe when he got back to the flat.

“She’s in our room,” said Chloe. “She’s pretty upset.”

“She left in such a hurry.”

“Yeah, well, she didn’t much feel like sticking around after your friend dumped her.”

“I think I should go talk to her,” he said.

“Why?”

“I just… I think I can help.”

***

“Jesus, Finn, don’t you knock anymore?” Rae said when Finn startled her by opening the door to her room.

“I figured you wouldn’t let me in anyway,” he replied, sitting down on the end of Chloe’s bed and facing her.

“So you just decided to come in unannounced?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“I don’t really want to—”

“I’m the reason Dev broke up with you,” he said.

“What?”

“He… didn’t want you to get in the way of our friendship.”

“And how would I do that?” she said impatiently.

“He figured out that… That I sort of…” Finn took a deep breath before continuing. “…have feelings for you.”

“ _Feelings_? What do you mean, ‘feelings’?”

“You know… I… like you, and stuff.”

“And stuff.”

“I couldn’t take it, watching you with him, all right?” he said.

“So you told him to break up with me?” she said angrily. “You don’t want me, but no one else can have me, is that it?”

“It’s not like that…”

“Then what’s it like?”

“I want to do it,” he said. “I want to try to make things work.”

“Make what work?”

“Us. You and me. Together.”

“Am… Am I supposed to be grateful right now?” she spat.

“What?”

“You can’t hand me a humiliating rejection one minute and then offer to ‘make things work’ with me the next!”

“That was like a month ago – things change.”

“Exactly. Things change,” she said. “My feelings for you changed. I wasn’t going to stay hung up on some guy who didn’t even want me!”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So you feel nothing for me now?”

“Basically,” she said. “I mean, I still like you as a friend, but—” She stopped when she noticed him lift up out of his seat and lean towards her. “What are you doing?”

“Just, if you feel nothing, then this shouldn’t be a big deal, right?” he said as he leaned closer. He moved slowly enough that she could have stopped him, but she didn’t.

She let him kiss her, and even found herself kissing him back.

When he finally broke away, and left her hanging there mid-pucker, he smiled and said, “Nothing?”

“That’s… not fair,” she said, trying not to smile back.

“I’m just saying, if there was nothing, then there wouldn’t have been so much… something.”

“Yeah, but you could kiss a lamp post and still—”

“Why do you keep comparing yourself to a lamp post?”

“I’m just saying, you have chemistry with everything,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that I want to—”

“Rae?”

“What?”

“Do you want to go out with me tonight?” he asked. “I know it’s Saturday, and you didn’t want to be one of my Saturday night girls, but if you’ll just give me a chance, I think I can—”

“All right.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but don’t ask me again.”

He grinned. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”


End file.
